Palestine Solidarity Project » activists arrested

1 Arrested, 3 Injured in Beit Ommar International Court of Justice Demonstration

PSP — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:42:57 +0000

On Saturday, July 10, approximately 50 Palestinian, international and Israeli activists marched towards the fence of the Karmei Tsur settlement for their weekly demonstration against the illegal settlements and the continued confiscation of Palestinian land through settlement expansion and the Annexation Barrier. This week, the participants planned to hold their own session of the International Court of Justice, in honor of the 6 year anniversary of the ICJ court decision that declared the Annexation Wall illegal. The group approached the settlement and began reading statements as witnesses and the prosecution, condemning the confiscation of land, demanding reparations for land and lives lost, as well as injuries to internationals during peaceful protest, and an end to the construction of illegal structures of the Occupation. Almost immediately, however, the Israeli soldiers present, who were waiting for the group outside the fence, announced that the area was a closed military zone and the demonstration had two minutes to disperse. Local residents insisted on their right to remain on their privately-owned land undisturbed. When one Israeli activist attempted to argue with the soldiers, he was arrested. He was then blindfolded and held in a jeep on location before being taken to Kiryat Arba settlement and police station; he was released later in the day.
The military then violently attacked the crowd, pushing them back towards the Palestinian homes of Beit Ommar and throwing sound grenades and tear gas canisters. Sound grenades were thrown deliberately so that they would explode very close to participants, resulting in the head injuries of a twelve year-old boy and a journalist as well as another teenage boy. An ambulance and medic team treated all three on the spot.

Arrest Campaigns Continue in Beit Ommar

PSP — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:44:05 +0000

This Saturday a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists were met in the vineyards of Beit Ommar by several Israeli soldiers as they attempted to make their way to the fence surrounding the illegal Israeli settlement Karmei Tsur, built on Beit Ommar land. The soldiers insisted on preventing the group from even approaching the outer fence, declaring the entire area a closed military zone and arresting two Israeli activists. Unlike the international and Palestinian activists who have been arrested in the same area in recent weeks (the Palestinian arrested last week is still in jail; the internationals were banned from the entire West Bank for the remainder of their visas, pending appeal), the Israeli activists were released a few hours later.

Beit Ommar has been conducting demonstrations at the various gates in the fence around Karmei Tsur for several months demanding their court-ordered access to privately-owned agricultural land on the settlement side of the fence. Additionally, this week’s demonstration also carried a special message of protesting the crackdown on protest around Karmei Tsur, particularly the arrest of 6 youth in the last 10 days living in the Karmei Tsur area in what appears to be a targeting of teen boys during the final exam period, causing maximum damage to their futures by prohibiting them from taking the exams needed to graduate high school and enter college.

Disturbing New Legal Precedent Set as Another International PSP Activist Arrested in Beit Ommar

PSP — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:19:15 +0000

On Saturday, June 12, a group of farmers, Palestine Solidarity Project activists, and members of the Beit Ommar National Committee held a protest at the fence around the Karmei Tsur settlement, built on Beit Ommar agricultural land. They carried Palestinian flags and chanted against the settlements and the theft of their land. There were Israeli soldiers already waiting on the other side of the fence. The demonstrators stood on their side of the fence, planted their flags in some of their own land and continued chanting. The soldiers watched for a few minutes until they came across the fence, down a hill to the ground that the demonstrators were standing on. One soldier, carrying an M16 and a tear-gas gun walked up a little hill that some children were standing on and grabbed a Palestinian flag from one of them. A man in the crowd, who could speak Hebrew, pleaded with the soldier to return the flag to the child. A few moments later one soldier tried to grab onto the child who had come down to get his flag. He held onto the child for a while as if he was going to arrest him so PSP international activist and dual American-Chilean citizen Yoel B. pulled the boy away and stood in front of the soldiers so they could not arrest the child. All of the soldiers on scene came down the hill at this point and surrounded the international as well as Fathi Sa’id, a local resident who is physically and mentally disabled. When soldiers act aggressively towards Sa’id, Yoel B. again attempted to intervene. Both were arrested. The soldiers then began to shoot cans of tear gas at the crowd of people until they were forced to disperse, with soldiers continuing to fire tear gas as they left.
In court, the Israeli prosecution compared Yoel to the activists on the Mavi Marmara (the Turkish aid ship attacked by the Israeli military who killed 9 activists on board), implying that he was not “really” a peace activist. The judge, conceding that he would like to see Yoel deported but that he could not order it, instead banned the American Jew from entering the West Bank for a period of 60 days, nearly the entirety of the remainder of his visa. This comes one week after another PSP activist, also arrested in Beit Ommar at a demonstration in support of the Gaza aid flotilla, was banned from the West Bank for 6 months, or until his visa expired.

This is setting a new precedent, banning international activists for extremely long periods of time from the entire West Bank, and seems to be in retaliation for the backlash Israel has experienced for its debacle at sea in which they killed unarmed civilian international activists in the Gaza Flotilla. Both cases are being appealed.

1 Arrested in Bethlehem Area Anti-Barrier Demonstrations

PSP — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:45:06 +0000

Wad Rahhal
A peaceful demonstration took place in Wad Rahal this afternoon (Friday 11th June 2010). A group of around fifty activists both Palestinian & internationals marched with banners & flags from the community centre to the edge of the settlement, where they were met by the IDF whom prevented them from progressing further. Several participants made anti-occupation speeches in Arabic, Hebrew & English. The group chanted with good volume & was then told that they must disperse. The demonstration ended how it began, peacefully. There were no arrests or injuries.

Al-Ma’asara
Later Friday, a small group of activists from Al-Ma’asara marched towards their village lands. In a symbolic protest, one activist set fire to an Israeli flag. He then forcibly attacked and arrested by Israeli soldiers. The remaining demonstrators, Palestinians, Israelis, and Internationals, sat down in the road to protest his arrest, insisting they would not leave until he was released. The soldiers agreed to a release, providing the group would back up 15 meters. While the activists complied, the soldiers did not keep their word (surprisingly), and drove away with the organizer. Israeli soldiers also began pushing the group further back, and eventually dispersed the demonstration.

International Activist Arrested at Beit Ommar Solidarity Demo with Flotilla

PSP — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:05:46 +0000

Jamie, a British national, was arrested today during a demonstration in Beit Ommar. While the main group of Palestinians were prevented from participating, a small group including PSP activists and Beit Ommar National Committee members, walked through the fence that was cut open in a previous demonstration and marched along Route 60 (not stopping traffic), carrying Turkish and Palestinian flags. They were soon corralled into an area in front of a shop where they stopped and made speeches of solidarity with the people on the Freedom Flotilla, the recently stopped Rachel Corrie boat, as well as the 3 people injured and 2 killed by settlers in the last week in the Hebron area. Participants wore black bands around their arms and mouths, representing the mourning for the people killed on the Turkish aid ship the Mavi Marmara as well as the attempt of the Israeli military to silence the voices of the activists who participated. As they made their way back into the village, the large military presence following them, they stopped to hold their flags in front of the Israeli military tower at the entrance to Beit Ommar. One international, supported by Palestinian participants, climbed the wall and stuck a Palestinian flag on the structure surrounding the tower. After marching a few more feet, he was pulled out of the crowd and arrested.

He is being accused of assaulting a soldier, though there is videotape showing him standing holding a poster seconds before he is grabbed and thrown to the ground by three soldiers. He is expected to appear in Israeli court Sunday morning.

First Hand Accounts from the Gaza Flotilla Raid, Including Free Gaza Organizer Huwaida Arraf

PSP — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:07:28 +0000

Below is a link to an interview with Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Movement organizer who was on the flotilla, with CNN:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kw2Xkf2EqI

Other first-hand accounts:

Originally from english.aljazeera.net

photo from AFP

Israel has started releasing some of the 700 passengers it captured after troops stormed a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Turkey has sent three planes, including two military ambulance aircraft, to bring its nationals home.

Six Greek activists returned to Athens after being expelled from Israel, and a former US ambassador who was also on the ship was on a flight home.

Here are excerpts of what some of the freed passengers had to say:

Issam Zaatar, Al Jazeera cameraman

“I was filming, and then he (an Israeli solider) ran after me with a stun gun.

“He could not catch me. One of his colleagues hit my hand from behind with a stun gun. My camera fell down. He ran to crush the camera with his feet.

“I told him, don’t break my camera. If you want the tapes, I will give them to you. I told him these are media equipment. They had no limits.

“They used rubber bullets. They used tear gas bombs. It was an unbelievable scene.”

Mihalis Grigoropoulos, Greece

“I was steering the ship, we saw them [Israeli soldiers] capture another ship in front of us, which was the Turkish passenger vessel with more than 500 people on board and heard shots fired.

“We did not resist at all, we couldn’t even if we had wanted to. What could we have done against the commandos who climbed aboard?”

“The only thing some people tried was to delay them from getting to the bridge, forming a human shield. They were fired upon with plastic bullets and were stunned with electric devices.

“There was great mistreatment after our arrest. We were essentially hostages, like animals on the ground.

“They wouldn’t let us use the bathroom, wouldn’t give us food or water and they took video of us despite international conventions banning this.”

Nilufer Cetin, Turkey

“We stayed in our cabin and played games amid the sound of gunfire,” Cetin said to reporters at Istanbul airport, as she held her one year old son.

“My son has been nervous since yesterday afternoon … I did not need to protect my son. They knew there was a baby on board. I put a gas mask and life jacket on my son. We did not experience any other problems on board, only a water shortage.

“We took walks on the deck, played games with my son. The curtains were drawn, so I did not see not the raid as it was happening. I only heard the voices. There are lightly and heavily wounded people.

“There are thousands, millions of babies in Gaza. My son and I wanted to play with those babies. We planned to deliver them aid. We wanted to say: “Look, it’s a safe place, I came here with my baby-son”

“I saw my husband from a distance, he looked okay. The ship personnel was not wounded, because they (the soldiers) needed them to take the ship to port.

“I will go again if another ship goes.”

Mutlu Tiryaki, Turkey

“When we went up to the deck, they emerged from helicopters and military boats and attacked us.

“They approached our vessel with military ships after issuing a warning. We told them we were unarmed. Our sole weapon was water.”

Bayram Kalyon, Turkey

“The captain of the vessel Mavi Marmara told us, “They are firing randomly, they are breaking the windows and entering inside. So you should get out of here as soon as possible.

That was our last conversation with him.”

6 Solidarity Activists Arrested in Beit Jala After Halting Bulldozer

PSP — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:14:53 +0000

The weekly protest against the encroaching apartheid wall took place this Sunday, 23 May, in Beit Jala. Once again Palestinians were prevented from reaching the site by Palestinian Authority police, leaving the field to assorted international activists and a sizeable contingent of Israeli supporters – and, of course, Israeli security contractors, border police, soldiers and plainclothes agents.

Despite having to clamber down a precipitous terraced hillside to reach the site, a group of committed activists managed to seat themselves in the path of the leading bulldozer. By clinging determinedly to one another they managed to resist being dragged away into detention for upwards of an hour. They hung on even when the operator of the bulldozer put their lives at risk when he resumed excavating within a metre of them.

The exasperation of the troops at failing to remove the demonstrators found its expression in detonating sound bombs and throwing teargas canisters amongst the assembled journalists and photographers. Nevertheless, the most determined of them managed to hang in and record the event until the last demonstrator had been arrested, handcuffed and carried to the waiting police vehicle.

The six activists- all Israeli nationals- who were arrested were released the same day. The final act of violence by the Israeli Occupation Force was to enter the village and teargas a group of Palestinian children who had taken no part in the demonstration.

2 Hospitalized, 2 Arrested in Al-Ma’asara

PSP — Sun, 23 May 2010 15:57:41 +0000

On Friday 21st June the village of Al Ma’sara, south of Bethlehem, held its weekly demonstration against the theft of village lands by the nearby Jewish colony/settlement of Efrat. Chanting “We want to go to our lands” in Arabic and English and bearing a banner proclaiming “Boycott Settlement Products” the villagers, numbering in excess of 150, marched towards the nearby access road. They were accompanied by a sizeable contingent of Israeli and international supporters, including a party of French visitors from Grenoble, who maintain an aid program to villagers in the Bethlehem region.

Upon reaching the road junction the protest march was met by a heavily armed contingent of Israeli Occupation Force soldiers and border police who immediately, and for no apparent reason, arrested two 16 year-old youths from the village . A day later they remain in detention. The marchers were then urged by the organisers to sit down in the road and maintain a non-violent and peaceful protest.

The commander of the Israeli troops then produced an order declaring the area a closed military zone. Almost immediately, and without warning, troops commenced to throw sound grenades amongst the assembled people, followed by successive volleys of tear gas cannisters which blanketed the area with dense clouds of choking, painful fumes. Two people were injured when hit by the cannisters. The most serious injury was sustained by Hassan Birjiyeh, a march organiser and member of the Al Ma’sara National Committee. He was taken to a hospital in Bethlehem with head and shoulder injuries which were later diagnosed as not life threatening.

Participants in the march were shocked by the level of violence and unprovoked aggression employed by the Israeli military. The French contingent (comprised mostly of middle-aged and elderly men and women) were particularly distressed to see and to experience such a disproportionate use of force. Even seasoned observers were surprised that tear gas had been used at Al Ma’asára, where protests are always peaceful and non-violent. They wonder whether this presages an increased level of repression by Israeli forces.

More than a Dozen Arrests in Anti-Occupation Demonstrations Over the Weekend

PSP — Sat, 15 May 2010 21:37:56 +0000

14 Israelis were arrested in the weekly demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah Friday as they attempted to march to the neighborhood and were prevented by police who used extreme force, leading to the hospitalization of 3 demonstrators just 2 days after hundreds of right-wing settlers were allowed to march through the neighborhood with a police escort. A number of the arrestees were held overnight in jail awaiting court hearings.

In An Nabi Saleh 50 Palestinian, international and Israeli demonstrators attempted to march to the land taken over by settlers from the nearby Halamish settlement. They were met with large amounts of tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and attack dogs. After being chased back into the village, 2 Israeli activists were detained and one was beaten in the military jeep before both were released without charge.

Demonstrations also occured in Ni’lin, Biddu, Bil’in and Wadi Rahal against the Annexation Barrier. In Wadi Rahal, in the southern Betlehem District, demonstrators gathered for the first time in over 3 years to protest the resumption of the construction of the Annexation Barrier, which will come within 30 meters of the village school.

Several Injured, Arrested in Weekend Demonstrations, Including 11 Year-Old Boy

PSP — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:54:57 +0000

In Al-Walaja Thursday, May 6, a small group of Palestinians, internationals and Israelis surprised the bulldozer operators destroying agricultural land for construction of the Annexation Barrier and managed to avoid Israeli forces and block the bulldozer’s progression for nearly half an hour before being violently pulled out of the way. 3 Palestinians were seriously injured, with 2 reported broken limbs.

In Ni’lin on Friday, May 7, residents, also joined by Israeli and international activists, marched towards the now-completed barrier that cuts through their agricultural land. The copious amount of tear gas shot as usual was less effective, mostly blowing harmlessly out of the area. The demonstration lasted for a few hours with no arrests or injuries.

In Nabi Saleh the demonstration Friday proceeded as usual and was winding down when soldiers and undercover intelligence officers invaded the village and began grabbing people. An 11 year-old boy, another Palestinian teen, and 2 Israeli activists were arrested and taken to the nearby settlement. Local women attempted to prevent the soldiers from taking the young boy, but were threatened and attacked. He was released later in the evening, and reported being beaten by the military at the police station. The Israeli activists, were also released, as were 4 Israelis and 1 international who were arrested on the road to Nabi Saleh, all without charge.

Several were also reportedly arrested in Bil’in, a lively demonstration against Palestinian expulsion from Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem was also held on Friday, and demonstrators in Al Ma’asara reportedly reached their agricultural land during the demonstration, a rare accomplishment in this village which has been demonstrating against the construction of the Annexation Barrier since 2007.
The weekly demonstration in Beit Ommar was canceled for a community event.